UTA Beats Louisiana

ARLINGTON, Texas – Kevin Hervey and Jalen Jones each had 21 points, and Erick Neal dished out a career-high tying 13 assists, to lead UTA men’s basketball to a 108-71 win over Louisiana, on Monday night at College Park Center.

UTA (15-5, 5-2 Sun Belt Conference) led from wire-to-wire in its third consecutive win and its 14th win in the last 16 games. The 37-point win marked the largest margin of victory in series history vs. Louisiana.

Hervey and Jones led the scoring as each had a game-high 21 points. Hervey added eight rebounds and five assists, making his first start in the last four games as he continues to recover from season-ending injury in 2015-16. Jones set a new career high with five 3-pointers, connecting on 8-of-13 attempts from the field, while adding four rebounds.

The Mavs rode a strong defensive effort in first seven minutes of half while claiming to a 17-6 lead. UTA took a 40-31 lead into halftime, behind the strong effort from Hervey, who had 16 points at the break. Louisiana’s 31 points marked the fewest in the first half for a UTA league opponent on the year. The Mavs took control of the game with a 13-0 run out of halftime, featuring three 3-pointers from Jones.

The Mavs held Louisiana (13-7, 3-4 SBC) – the league’s top-scoring unit – to 33-percent shooting from the field, while connecting on 57-percent of their attempts, including 13-of-31 three-point attempts. UTA won the battle of rebounding (52-36), second-chance points (20-6), points in the paint (52-22) and assists (27-15).

UTA surpassed 100 points in a single game for the first time since a 111-64 win over Howard Payne on Nov. 13, 2013. It marked the first time the Mavs scored more than 100 points over a Division I team since a double-overtime 100-97 win over the Roadrunners on Jan. 17, 2009.